OpenAI researcher behind GPT-4.5 forced us to leave us after denying the green card

An OpenAI researcher who helped to develop GPT-4.5 had her Green Card application rejected last week, forcing the United States to leave after living and working in the country for 12 years.

Kai Chen – a Canadian citizen – announced on social media that she will move to Vancouver for “an indefinite amount of time” after the refusal.

Chen’s colleague at OpenAI, research scientist Noam Brown, expressed dismay about the decision. “It is very worrying that one of the best AI researchers I worked with, @Kaicathyc, was denied an American green card today,” Brown wrote on X. “A Canadian who has lived and contributed here for 12 years now has to leave. We risk the AI ​​leadership of America when we reject talent like these.”

A spokesperson for Openai told Decrypt The company that situation was possibly a paperwork Snafu and that OpenAi was involved in trying to resolve the case. “This application was submitted for some time before our employee came to OpenAi and we were not involved in the case,” said the spokesperson, “however, our initial assessment, on the basis of the information provided to us, it appears that there have been some paperwork problems in submitting. We continue to work closely with our employee on their situation.”

The situation of Chen is only part of a growing challenge for the American technical sector under the strict immigration policy of Trump, which began after his inauguration of January 2025. The denial comes in the midst of both visa holders and green card requesters, with more than a thousand international students who have been confronted to visa challenge in recent months.

The situation has resulted in more than a hundred lawsuits, and on Friday the Trump administration became the pause button with its efforts to exchange the records of students and the exchange of visitor programs until a clear policy is designed.

The government has also suspended the processing of green map requests for immigrants who have granted the status of refugees or asylum and introduced new H-1B visa requirements, including providing home addresses and biometric data, according to reports.

The visa performance has had a horrifying effect on the scientific community. A Nature Poll has shown that 75% of respondents – more than 1,600 scientists in total – are now considering leaving the US for functions abroad, mainly to Europe and Canada.

“The enormous changes in American research caused by the new government of President Donald Trump ensure that many scientists in the country reconsider their lives and career,” ” Nature reported.

This talent -the AI ​​sector could hit particularly hard. Statistics show that 66% of the 50 most promising American AI startups had at least one immigrant founder, and almost 70% of the full-time AI-related graduated students in America is internationally, based on a 2023 analysis published by the National Foundation for American Policy.

The CEO of OpenAi, Sam Altman, has previously argued for easier immigration paths with high skills. However, he has said nothing publicly about Chen’s situation.

Despite these efforts, researchers such as Chen are caught in the immigration dragnet of the administration. Another OpenAi colleague, Dylan Hunn, described Chen as “crucial” for the development of GPT-4.5 and said it was “crazy” to kick her out of the country.

The Immigration and Nationality Act gives the State Secretary a broad authority to withdraw visa if the presence or activities of a foreign subject of “potentially seriously serious adverse consequences for foreign policy” for the US, this provision is reportedly used to focus on what an underswesest consequence is.